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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Great Team + Tenacity = Show Biz Success!

How Angela Bryan went from having a dream to living it.

Angela Bryan hasn’t always been an actress, spokesperson, and lifestyle model. Only A handful of years ago, she was a stay-at-home mom who was ready to pursue her passion: acting, a passion she lived with since elementary school and fostered throughout high school, college, and the Navy. However, she’d not been on stage or in front of the camera in some time.

“I was a little nervous, because I was just getting started when people were already well situated in their careers,” Angela recalls. “But something inside me said, ‘If not now, then when?’”

A Solid Start

Thankfully, Angela heeded the advice of her inner voice, and in December 2005 attended the Business of Show Business. A workshop put on by Actors Info Booth, it was then that Angela realized that those looking into acting fall into two camps: those who consider show business a hobby and those who look at it as a business. Angela placed herself in the latter camp.

“To make it in this business, you have to be tenacious, and you have to want it beyond the idea of glamour and fame,” says Lisa Bunbury, co-owner of Actors Info Booth, an acting resource that provides the tools needed to get people into show business. During the Business of Show Business workshop, Lisa provided a real-life look at the hard work required to make it in the business.

This no-nonsense approach didn’t deter Angela. In fact, it spurred her toward her goals with greater speed. The following month, Angela began a yearlong conservatory program at the Acting School of South Florida. Then, against her instructors’ recommendations, she had professional photos taken, business cards made, and went hunting for an agent before completing even three months of the program.

“I was itching to get out there and do something, and I couldn’t wait an entire year,” Angela says.

Her itch paid off. The first agent’s office she entered signed her on the spot. Before getting back to her car from her new agent’s office, her cell phone rang.

Was she available for an audition Friday?

Yes, she was.

When the audition came, she nailed it and was awarded the job.

Keeping Busy

But that was just the beginning. Over the next year, Angela booked an amazing three out of four auditions. She’s now been the principal on more than 100 jobs. She’s been on commercials, infomercials, and print advertisements; she’s provided voiceover services; been a spokesperson; and she has played roles in network television shows and independent films. As if her career doesn’t keep her busy enough, she has plans to produce her own food show, is writing a screenplay depicting a close friend’s traumatic divorce, and began Actors Playhouse—which she describes as “something like a gym for people wanting to exercise their public speaking and acting skills.”

While you may expect Angela to claim all the glory, she insists she isn’t the only one who made it possible.

“It is a real team effort,” Angela says. “My agent is picky, and only sends me to auditions that fit me, and my husband has encouraged me to chase after my dream from day one.”

It’s a chase that Angela finds invigorating, satisfying, and an absolute blast.